Foundry flask



W. ERNST EIAL FOUNDRY FLASK Sept. 23, 1952 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 Filed May 27, 1950 INVENTORS OTTO .1 FLECK BY WALTER ERNST MZW ATTORNEYS.

Sept. 23, 1952 w. ERNST ETAL FOUNDRY FLASK Filed May 27, 1950 2 SHEETS-.-SHEET 2 44 4o WV 30 as 46 22 0 I 32 I I 30 so My 64 5s I INVENTORS 68 OTTO J. FLECK.

WALTER ERNST.

ATTORNEYS.

Patented Sept. 23, .1952 i .r

FOUNDRY FLASK Walter Ernst, Dayton, and Otto J. Fleck, .Fre-

' mont, Ohio, assignors to The Fremont Flask Company, Fremont, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application May 27, 1950, Serial No. 164,696

(Cl. 22r106) 3 Claims.

This invention relates to molding flasks, and particularly to flasks of the type known as snap flask.

In modern foundry practice it is essential for the flasks employed in making molds to produce uniformly shaped molds so that if necessary to jacket the molds when they are poured on, the jacket will provide the necessary firm support. Also, in the process of using, storing, and moving flasks, it is not possible always to have the same cope and drag together. Thus, in a group of flasks, any cope should be able to be assembled with any drag and produce the proper shape of mold.

In modern foundry practice, molds are general- 1y made rather hard either by bumping or ramming or by use of a sand slinger and this requires that the flask be made strong enough to withstand this treatment, but at the same time, since the flask must be manually rolled over, it must be light enough for the molder to handle.

In making a mold in a flask, especially when the mold is hard, the sand of the mold tends to adhere to the surface of the flask and there are generally employed springs to push the halves of a snap flask apart, clamping devices being employed, of course, to hold the parts of the flask together.

Many different types of snap flasks have been devised embodying clamps at the opposite corners of the flask and resilient means at these corners, the said combination providing clamping and operating means for the flask halves. However, none of these arrangements of the prior art have been particularly successful because either the clam-ping mechanism is so exposed that abrasive particles of sand can get into it and cause rapid wear, or other parts of the mechanism are so disposed that they become fouled with sand. For example, in connection with all of the molds made being a uniform size, it is necessary that stop means be provided so that when the clamps draw the halves of the flask together they will be stopped in a predetermined fixed position. These stop means are often positioned so that sand will get on them and this sand must be brushed off before the flask is clamped or else an improperly sized mold will result.

The present invention has as its primary object a provision of a snap flask or separable flask in which all possibility of sand coming in contact with any of the essential operating parts of the clamping mechanism is entirely eliminated.

Another object is the provision of a snap flask which can quickly be clamped and quickly un- 2 snapped and which is strong enough so as to withstand rough treatment. 7

It is also an object to provide .a-clamping arrangement for snap flasks which is relatively inexpensive and which provides for greatly improved operation of the flask. I

It is also an object of this invention to provide a clamping means for clamping the parts of a snap flask together which will prevent the parts from getting out of alignment thereby insuring a properly formed mold at all times.

Another particular object of this invention is to provide a clamp-ing mechanism for snap flasks including stop means to predetermine the clamped position of the halves of the flask so arranged that there is no possibility of any foreign material getting under the stop means thereby to cause the flask to be improperly clamped.

These and other objects and advantages will become more apparent upon reference to the follow-ing description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure l is a perspective view of a snap flask according to our invention with a portion broken away at one corner partially to show the arrangement of the clamping means.

Figure 2 is a perspective view showing the arrangement of the dowel and bushing by means of which the cope and drag of the ,flask are aligned.

Figure 3 is a plan view over the dowel and bushing arrangement shown in Figure 2.

Figure l is a plan section taken through one of the separable corners of the flask showing one type clamping arrangement according to this invention.

Figure 5 is a view similar to Figure 4 but showing still another form of this invention.

Figure 6 is a vertical section taken through one of the separable corners of the flask showing the arrangement of the clamping means and the stop means at said corners.

Figure 7 is a view showing a somewhat modifled arrangement of the stop means.

Referring to the drawings somewhat more in detail, the mold shown in Figure 1 may comprise a drag l0 and cope l2. Drag 10 comprises dowel pins [4 at each end which engage bushings It mounted on the cope. In this manner the two parts of the flask are exactly aligned when placed together.

Each of the cope and drag comprise the separabl parts or halves as indicated at [8 and 20 on the cope of the flask in Figure 1. These parts, or halves, are separable from each other 3 at diagonally opposite corners of the flask. This separability of the parts of the flask, together with the draft normally provided on the inside walls, permits the flask to be readily slipped off a mold by releasing the corner clamps.

These diagonally opposite corners are formed with the parallel flange means 22 which are better seen inFigure 4. The flange means22 are centrally bored for receiving the shouldered bushings 24 between which extends a tension member 26. In the modification of Figure 4 tension member 26 has its opposite ends oppositely threaded into the bushings so that rotation of the member will cause movement of the bushings, and therefore the parts of the flask, toward or away from each other. In Figure 4 the threaded parts of the bushings are spaced outwardly from the inner ends of the bushings and the said inner ends closely embrace the unthreaded center part. of the tension member thereby acting as a dowel arrangement by means of which the parts of the flask are maintained in proper alignment at all times. For preventing the bushings from turning due to rotation of the tensionine'mbe'r in clamping and unclamping the flask, the set screws 28 may be provided in the flange means as indicated in Figure 4. A lever'as at 34 maybe provided for turning the tension member for clamping and unclamping the flask in the manner described. Y v

According to this invention the space between the flange means 22 is substantially filled with a resilient unit consisting of the outer metal plates 38 and the intermediate rubber like block 32' that is bonded to the said plates. This. unit is made of such a size that when the flask is unclamped it will extend from one flange to the other, but, by being resilient, actuation of the clamp causes compression of the resilient part 32.

The resilient unit referred to has a central bore therethrough through which the tension member extends and into which the endsof bushings 24 extend. It will be apparent that this arrangement absolutely prevents'a-ny sand from getting into the tension member and the inner ends of the bushings. The outer ends of the bushings may also be protected, if desired, as by the cover plates 35 so that the clamping and dowel arrangement is at all times enclosed against sand and dirt.

As mentioned, the bore in the resilient unit, through which the tension member extends, is in the center of the unit and on each side of the center are additional bores 33 into which stop members secured to the flange means 22 extend. This construction will best be seen in Figure 7 wherein the stop members are represented by the shouldered buttons 48. These buttons have their inner ends arranged so as to abut when the flask parts are clamped together. It will be evident that the stop means are also completely and permanently protected by the resilient unit between the flange means so that at no time can any sand get between the stop buttons and vary the stopped position of the flask parts.

Figures and 6 illustrate a somewhat modified arrangement wherein a cam clamping device is employed. The tension member in these views comprises bolt 42 having a head ti on one end engaging the adjacent bushing 48 and having a nut 48 on the other end which secures to the 64. In order to prevent bushing 64 from rotating in its supporting flange means, the outer surface of the bushing may be knurled or finely fluted as indicated at 66, or the bushing may be otherwise clamped in the flange means as by a set screw or pin.

Referring to Figure 6, it will be noted that the stop buttons illustrated therein are ofsomewhat reduced diameter over what is shown in Figure 7 and this is for the purpose of permitting compression springs 63 to be placed between the stop buttons thereby to facilitate the opening of the flask when it is unclamped. In the modification of Figures 5 and 6 the bushings closely embrace the tension member and thereby provide a dowel arrangement similar to that described in connection with Figure 4.

All of the modifications illustrated are characterizedby the quick acting positive clamp and the positive acting stop means which fix the clamped position of the flask parts, together with the doweling arrangement associated with the tension member and the resilient block'which serves to urge the flask parts away from each other and which encloses and protects the clamping mechanism, the stop means, and the dowel arrangement thereby greatly increasing the operating ease, accuracy, and useful life of clamping, opening, and stop devices.

Since the cope and drag of a flask are essentially identical, it willbe understood that in the claims flask is to be interpreted to mean either the cope or the drag of the flash, or the entire flask. y

t will be understood that this invention is susceptible to modification in order to adapt it to different usages and conditions, and, accordingly, it is desired to comprehend such modifications within this invention as may fall within the scope of the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A molding flask of the character described comprising a generally rectangular shaped frame, said frame including a plurality of parts which are separable at their diagonally opposite corners, said parts having parallel opposed flanges at said corners, a resilient unit disposed between said flanges at each of said corners, said resilient unit comprising spaced metal plates and an intermediate rubber block, said rubber block being co-extensive with the inner faces of said plates, said plates being coextensive with said opposed flanges, said rubber block being bonded at its outer surfaces to said opposed plates, bushings carried by said flanges and movable inwardly in opposed relationship to each other, a rod eX- tending between and closely fitting said bushings, said rod serving as a dowel to maintain said parts aligned, said rod and bushings being threaded together whereby upon rotation of the rod in one direction said plates will be drawn towards each other and upon rotation of the rod in the opposite direction said plates will be moved away from each other, said rod and bushings being positioned intermediate the lateral exposed surfaces of said rubber block.

2. A molding flask of the character described comprising a generally rectangular-shaped frame, said frame including a plurality of parts which are separable at their diagonally opposite corners, said parts having parallel opposed flanges at their corners, a resilient unit disposed between said flanges at each of said corners, said resilient unit comprising spaced metal plates and an intermediate resilient block, said block being coexouter surfaces to said opposed plates, bushing members carried by said flanges and movable inwardly in opposed relationship to each other, a rod extending between and closely fitting said bushing members, said rod and bushing members being positioned intermediate the lateral exposed surfaces of said resilient block and whereby upon rotation of the rod in one direction said plates are drawn toward each other and upon rotation V of the rod in the opposite direction, said plates I are moved away from each other.

3. A molding flask of the character describe comprising a generally rectangular-shaped frame;

said frame including a plurality of parts which at said corners, a resilient unit disposed between said flanges at each of said corners for maintaining said opposed flanges protected against the entrance of foreign material therebetween upon opening and closing of said mold frame,

said resilient unit comprising spaced metal plates and an intermediate resilient block, said resilient block being coextensive with the inner faces of said plates, said plates being coextensive with said opposed flanges, said resilient block being bonded at its outer surfaces to said opposed;

shouldered bushings carried by said" plates, I flanges and movable inwardly in opposed relationship to each other, a rod extending between and closely fitting said bushings, said rod and bushings being positioned intermediate the lat 6 eral exposed surfaces of said resilient block, said rod and bushings being threaded together whereby upon rotation of the rod in one direction 7 said plates are drawn toward each other and upon rotation of the rod in the opposite direction said plates are moved away from each other.

WALTER ERNST. OTTO J. FLECK.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the flle of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 5 Number Name Date 265,640 Sheeler Oct. 10, 1882' 1,307,584 Humphryes June 24, 1919 1,515,996 Buchanan Nov. 18, 1924 1,797,182 Wallace Mar. 17, 1931 2 1,875,666 Schwemleim Sept. 6, 1932 2,021,868 Patterson Nov. 19, 1935 2,026,272 Danser Dec. 31, 1935 2,140,672 Gray et a1. Dec. 20, 1938 2,170,18 Allen et al Aug. 22, 1939' 25 2,289,269 Hines July 7, 1942 2,409,759 Hosking Oct. 22, 1946 2,445,745 Moe July 20, 1948 2,453,893 Castagnola Nov. 16, 1948 2,521,279 Becker Sept. 5, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 524,251 Great Britain Aug. 1, 1940 562,443 Great Britain July 3, 1944 

